Archive for April 2008
Check out some of our fun in the sun!
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And, Parker has some vids of our trip on his site, too!
Our last day in Tampa ended with another trip to Busch Gardens! Momma and Daddy couldn’t let a, “Buy one day, get one day free” offer pass them up, so we were on the shuttle by 10:00 AM and at the front gate by 10:10! Our first stop after the front gate was for Daddy. He rode another roller coaster called the Montu in the Egypt section of the park while the rest of us watched the coaster trying to hear Daddy’s screams of fun. Before we knew it, Daddy was done and we were on our way to see some more Serengeti animals. Parker loved (as always) pointing at all of the mamamals (animals) and saying, “hi” to all of the birds. We saw a hippo, lion, meerkcats, giraffes, zebras, weird looking chickens, another HUGE alligator, hyenas, and Asian elephants. All of that toodling worked up an appetite, so we headed to the Crown Colony Restaurant over looking the plains of the Serengeti for some grub. Daddy, next time remember that Parker and I ALSO like to dip our French fries in cheese dip! One little cup for Momma just didn’t cut it!
After some lunch, we made our way to Timbuktu…yes….Timbuktu. It really wasn’t as long of a trip as I thought it might be! Once there, I rode a train for kids, and then Parker joined me! We laughed, waved, and made lots of noise together. Momma and Daddy were so proud of me for going on the ride with Parker. After the train ride, I hit the motorcycle ride. It was for taller kids, so Parks couldn’t ride with me on this one. BUT-it didn’t stop him from waving, yelling, and smiling at me at every lap I made.
The Pirate 4-D show was next on the agenda. When they say 4-D, they mean it! We had to wear funny glasses that made everything seem like it was coming right at me, AND I got splashed with water, puffed with air, and my seat vibrated like bees were whizzing by me. I liked most of the show; the funny parts. However, Parker wasn’t fond of the squirting water, and I didn’t like the scenes in Dead Man’s Cave. “The funniest part was when that guy got bird poop all over him!”
A quick trip on the carousal to dry us out for our next adventure….Jungala! This place was so cool! There were instruments high above the treetops that I had crawl through tunnels made of rope to get to! These tunnels were 50 feet long and 50 feet in the air! There was a spiral vertical spider web, and lots more super cool stuff that I can’t even explain! It was very hard sometimes, and in some places Daddy found it hard to fit. Parker and Momma stayed on the ground, and Parker took a snooze. After about an hour, Daddy was hot, exhausted, thirsty, and stinky. It was time to rehydrate! We filled our Busch Gardens souvenir cup one more time and headed to the front gate to leave. Thanks, Busch Gardens!
Momma Note-We took off for home around 3:00 and are presently just north of Atlanta. The last day is sad, I’ve come to realize, but also a feeling of accomplishment. We did it! I always say that this is an adventure, NOT a vacation. BUT I can say this time came pretty darn close to a vacation! It made our hearts smile to see Parker interacting with everything going on around him and also to be able to fuel his love of animals. Morgan was a fantastic big sister on this vacation as well as a big cousin! I’m so proud of the little girl she is. Even as exhausted as we are, I’m already planning our next adventure! Thanks, Florida! See ya’ next time!
FloridaDay6
Today started a little different than the last few. We woke up and were whisked off for a little bit of Daddy time while the Mommies did some “clean-up, clean-up, everybody clean-up” on the condo. First stop was Dunkin Donuts for…well, donuts, of course! I had one with pink frosting, just like Riley. Taylor had sprinkles, and Parker had chocolate (I helped him out a little with his, too). Then, we jumped over to a local coffee shop so that Daddy could try to print out all of our Tampa stuff (maps, Busch Gardens tickets, etc.) while we stayed in our cars to watch movies and keep Uncle Manata entertained. The quote of the day came after I had asked several times when Daddy would be back and Uncle Manata, trying his best, would say “Soon, honey”, to which I replied “I’m getting tired of you telling me that!” All was well within minutes, though, because we ran out the rest of the Daddy time on the playground. We ran back and forth across the bridges, went down the slides, and made the most of the little carousel rides (i.e., the Daddies pushed the carousel around by hand).
Finally, it was time to get the Mommies and get the show in the road to Tampa. We were in for a little bit of a car ride, but nothing like the trip down. About 2 hours later, and after seeing a little more of downtown Tampa thanks to some poor Google Maps directions, we arrived at The Florida Aquarium! We were greeted right in the front door by a huge petting tank filled with sharks and monster-sized rays! The next exhibits had a whole assortment of fish, birds, turtles, and even otters. Parker loved to run from tank to tank screaming “ANIMAL!” or “BIRD!” or some other babbles and squeaks that we couldn’t understand. Meanwhile, I kept amazing Daddy by coming up with all of the names and special facts about all of the sea creatures…he thinks I have a bright future on the Discovery Channel 
. We rounded out the aquarium with a jaunt outside to play on the crazy eel reef playground before heading back to the car for the trip to the hotel.
Once back at the hotel, Mommy, Parker, and I broke to the pool for a quick dip with Uncle Manata, Aunt Carrie, Riley, and Taylor while Daddy went to get some dinner. With full bellies, we settled down to catch some Z’s for tomorrow’s big day!
FloridaDay4
We woke up today refreshed and re-energized. First up on the list of today’s activity was more beach time! We jumped in our cars, crossed the big bridge to Sanibel, and drove straight to Bowman’s Beach. There have been some storms at night, and this beach is a little further north on Sanibel, so that combination lead to a little more…ummm…”exciting” wave activity. These monsters were swelling to 3 or 4 feet and crashing down at the shore in a splash of foam! I was pretty brave and ventured out a little, but I couldn’t cowabunga with those waves for long because they kept knocking me down…it was some powerful stuff! So, we retreated to just behind the shore line and made good use of the 326 sand toys that accompanied us on the trip. We had a little game going with the Daddies…they would work really hard to pack in the sand to the bucket and tip it over to make a perfect sand castle, then we would work really hard to smoosh, stomp, and otherwise demolish them! After that fun, the Mommies and Riley took down the beach to find some treasures (mainly, sea urchins and shells), but were soon joined by Uncle Manata and Taylor (they didn’t want to miss out on the fun). Daddy, Parker and I held down the fort and hung out, which was cool too.
After the beach, we hit The Island Cow for lunch. We had to wait for a few minutes to get a table for eight, but that gave us a chance to test out all of the various chairs and rocks in the yard. Once we sat down at an awesome corner booth, we were immediately met with funky muffins and various cows to gawk at all over the room. Daddy helped us kill a little time, too, by taking us out back to see the cool iguana and various cow-themed furniture on the back patio. I ordered the macaroni and cheese while Parker had the fruit and shrimp plate (Daddy handled the shrimp, but Parker and I shared the rest). Lunch was super-duper good, and we all ate so well that we got candy on the way out! I even ate “gator”, whatever the heck that is…tasted like chicken.
Turns out that the candy was a bribe because we spent the next hour our two browsing through a good number of the various gift shops. It wasn’t a total loss, though. We got some cool magnets for the fridge and got to see some really cool tropical birds named Mia, Caesar, GW, Kiwi, Jerry Jr., and Babe. All of us really loved to talk to them and watch them climb up and down in their cage and poke their heads out (Parker liked to say, “Bird out!”). On the way back to the car, Aunt Carrie and Mommy were savagely attacked by swarms of ferocious fire ants! After the Lifeline helicopter helped them reduce the swelling and administered emergency surgery, we were able to get back on our way.
After the shopping we went to…more shopping!?! We crossed back over the causeway and totally dominated the big outlet mall! We started off up at the little coffee shop to get drinks for everyone, then we left (sleepy head) Taylor and Uncle Manata out in the car while we hit the whole line of stores from start to finish. Our trip was interrupted about half way through by a stop at the on-site playground. But, other than that, we were all troopers and pulled through till the end.
Finally, we headed back to the condo for quick dinner, bath, and bed. We were all pretty cashed from the big day, so everyone dropped right off to dream about the day’s adventures and imagine what tomorrow might have in store for us!
FloridaDay2
It’s 7:22 PM, and we’ve finally arrived in Florida! We’ve got about 4 ½ hours to go…where’s the beach? This time seemed like a longer trip than last year with LOTS of road construction, downpours, and Momma being sicker than a dog for most of the trip. Parker and I have been such awesome travelers! We’ve only stopped for lunch and dinner (however that did lead to Parker having a diaper so soaked that Momma had to change his outside pants, too. Momma was so proud of us that I got a new fairy book, and Parker got an Elmo toy. For now, we’ll have to keep watchin’ our movies and counting down the miles to Ft. Myers! Love to all!